ZAMBOANGA CITY—Department of Agriculture (DA) Western Mindanao director Oscar Parawan said rice farmers in one Zamboanga del Sur town will no longer be at the mercy of intermittent weather condition in drying up their produce.

Parawan made the pronouncement after the DA and the Bureau of Postharvest Research Extension (BPRE) turned over P16 million worth of flatbed dryers to 24 irrigators’ association, the members of whom are into rice farming in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur.

Each of the associations received one unit of flatbed dryer, which was turned over to them by Parawan and BPRE officials last week.

Parawan said the dryers are expected to minimize the rice farmers’ postharvest losses, particularly in their ability to dry up their produce using the newly acquired machinery.

Traditionally, farmers in Labangan town and other Zamboanga del Sur areas dry their produce along street sidewalks and concrete roads, exposing the palay to hungry flocks of birds, chickens and ducks, as well as reckless drivers who recklessly plow through the drying palay.

Parawan said the farmers complained that sacks of palay are lost during the drying process when they could not save the drying grains during sudden downpours.

Labangan Acting Mayor Faisal Balatucal said the flatbed dryers will help in the postharvest operations of the farmers in his municipality.

The town of Labangan, with its 25 barangays, is one of the rice-producing areas in Zamboanga del Sur; vast tracts of lands in the municipality are planted to palay.

The flatbed dryer also dries corn, cassava chips and copra to standard quality, aside from giving farmers the ideal 14-percent moisture content of palay to yield quality milled rice, Parawan said.

Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) chairman Vicente Lao earlier said Mindanao farmers are in dire need of postharvest facilities, like flatbed dryers.

Lao said the lack of postharvest facilities discourages farmers to plant more and increase their production, since “they don’t have a good return of investment.”

He said a considerable amount of harvest from farms in Mindanao goes to waste due to the lack of post-harvest facilities.

BPRE area coordinator for Mindanao Edgar Testa said Western Mindanao has the most flatbed dryers installed in Southern Philippines.

Testa said Western Mindanao has 190 units, including the 24 turned over last week in Labangan, of the 548 target units to be installed in Mindanao.

The town of Labangan with 24 units has the most number of installed flatbed dryers, Testa said.

Testa advised the farmer-recipients to follow proper procedures in operating the dryer and maintain it properly so that it could last longer and service areas would benefit more from the facility.

He disclosed that 30 more units of flatbed dryers will be installed in the region before the end of this year.